A magical girl who values nothing more than victory. A daughter desperate to earn money for her mother’s medical bills. A calculating rich girl who wears her avatar like another mask. Her family servant who strains at the bit.
Only ten of the original sixteen players remain in the most recent iteration of Magical Girl Raising Project after Restart 1‘s match began. As they progress through the game’s levels, they face greater threats — some coming from amongst themselves.
MAHO SHOJYO IKUSEI KEIKAKU (c) Asari Endou, Marui-no 2012 / TAKARAJIMASHA, INC., TOKYO
As an open and vocal fan of deathmatch stories, I watched the anime version of Magical Girl Raising Project as it was simulcast by Crunchyroll, and despite being distressed about some of its more graphic death scenes, I enjoyed the story overall. But as I mentioned in my review of Restart 1, the second arc of the Magical Girl Raising Project light novel series far outstrips the first.
Like Restart 1, Restart 2 blends the deathmatch and magical girl genres with a murder mystery, and the mystery significantly ramps up in this volume. The obvious murder of Masked Wonder from Restart 1 remains unsolved, and the uncertainty and suspicion the murder has caused is leading to a breakdown in trust and cooperation between the remaining players.
Restart 2 includes several of the same perspectives as the previous volume: the anxious Pechka, the detective Detec Bell, ten-year-old Nokko, the calculating rich girl Pfle, and the bitter bodyguard Shadow Gale are the primary perspective characters. We also see more of Snow White, the veteran magical girl from Volume 1, who appears a few times as she confronts the master of the game, trying to save the girls before the situation worsens.
This volume fleshes out the character relationships much more than the previous volume, especially that of Pechka and her teammates as well as the relationship between Shadow Gale and Pfle. The tension between Shadow Gale and Pfle alone is compelling and moves the plot forward. Since these two are my favorite characters in the Restart arc, I found this development very satisfying.
Restart 2 resolves the main mystery of the arc and answers many questions by the end of this volume. Readers also learn how the game relates to the catastrophic event in Volume 1, despite Volume 1’s well-settled conclusion.
Like previous volumes, this one has several hyper-cute illustrations by Marui-no. I do have a mild complaint: many of the illustrations contain spoilers. A few internal black and white illustrations are placed so readers see the image before the event they illustrate, and an important character revealed later in the story is included in the opening full-color character guide.
The Restart arc clearly concludes in this volume, and I would say this arc works very well independent of Volume 1. The conclusion is an incredibly satisfying one, and the identity of the murderer is one I didn’t see coming. I highly recommend the Restart arc to readers who enjoy fantasy mysteries. With the next volume of the Magical Girl Raising Project light novel series currently scheduled for a July 2018 release, it’s a great time to pick up the beginning of the series.
4.5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads | Indiebound | RightStuf
This review contains affiliate links. While Girls in Capes does make revenue from purchases made at affiliate links, reviews are not paid, and all reviews contain the staff writers’ honest opinions of the work.
[coffee]
